This application claims the benefit of Korean Application No. 2002-32162, filed Jun. 8, 2002, in the Korean Industrial Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a microwave oven, which is provided on an external surface thereof with a saucer holder, and a saucer used with the microwave oven and removably engaged with the saucer holder.
2. Description of the Related Art
As well known to those skilled in the art, a microwave oven is an appliance used to cook food laid in a cooking cavity thereof. To cook the food, frictional heat is generated within the food as high-frequency electromagnetic waves cause molecules of moisture laden in the food to vibrate.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a conventional microwave oven. Referring to FIG. 1, the conventional microwave oven is provided at its front wall with a door 100. A control panel 104 is provided on the front wall at a position adjacent to the door 100. The door 100 is hinged to a body of the microwave oven, and allows a user to selectively open a cooking cavity 102. The control panel 104 occupies a smaller area in comparison with the door 100, and allows the user to input as well as confirm several cooking conditions, such as a cooking time and a cooked state of food.
A window 101 made of a transparent material is provided in the door 100 in such a way as to cover a larger part of the door 100. When cooking food using the above microwave oven, the user may view the cooking cavity 102 where food is cooked through the window 101 so the user may confirm the cooked state of the food. Recently, there has been effort to improve the microwave oven such that the window 101 blocks electromagnetic waves due to the harmful effects of such waves on human health. The control panel 104 is provided with control knobs 104b and 104c to allow the user to input various conditions, inducing a desired cooking time and a desired cooked state of food (for example, frozen food), to a microprocessor in the microwave oven. The control panel 104 also has a display 104a. The display 104a displays thereon several values inputted by the user such as the cooking time. That is, the display 104a allows the user to confirm whether or not the values inputted using the control knobs 104b and 104c are correct, and whether or not the cooking time has elapsed. The microwave oven is also provided with a handle 103 used to open or dose the door 100.
When it is desired to heat liquid food such as milk or water in the microwave oven, the liquid food must be contained in a cup. When finishing the cooking process, the liquid food is taken out from the cooking cavity 102 along with the cup. Typically, the cup as well as the liquid food contained in the cup are very hot. Thus, in order to carry the heated cup, a saucer is required. Therefore, the conventional microwave oven has a problem in that it is inconvenient and dangerous to carry a cup containing liquid food heated and cooked in the microwave oven.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a microwave oven including a saucer holder provided at a predetermined position on an external surface of the microwave oven, and a saucer removably engaging with the saucer holder, thus allowing a heated cup to be conveniently carried after a cooking process since the saucer is always provided on the microwave oven.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention.
The foregoing and other objects of the present invention are achieved by providing a microwave oven including a saucer holder provided at a predetermined position of an external surface of the oven to removably hold a saucer on the holder.
The foregoing and other objects of the present invention are achieved by providing a saucer to hold various kinds of cups including a cup seating part having a disc shape, and an engaging part to removably engage with a saucer holder provided on a microwave oven.
The foregoing and other objects of the present invention are achieved by providing a microwave oven including a saucer holder provided at a predetermined position on an external surface of the microwave oven, and a saucer to removably engage with the saucer holder.